Reports: Man arrested in South Seattle murder says he doesn't recall the killing

Updated 5:21 pm, Thursday, August 13, 2015

A man arrested Wednesday for the July 31 slaying of a 20-year-old man in South Seattle's Dunlap neighborhood told police he was intoxicated that day and has no recollection of the killing for which he's jailed.

A 20-year-old man is held in King County Jail on $1 million bail for investigation of the slaying of Zakariya Issa.

Multiple witnesses told Seattle police they saw a man leave the passenger side of a vehicle headed south on 44th Avenue South and approach a pedestrian walking north on that street about 3 p.m. July 31, court documents say. The man immediately punched the pedestrian in the head, prompting him to fall of the ground. The attacker then drew a gun from his waistband, stood over the victim and yelled at him for a few moments, and then shot him multiple times in the head, probable cause reports indicate.

The shooter then got back into the vehicle, which headed south on South Cloverdale Street, police records say.

Police contacted the registered owner of the vehicle witnesses reported to authorities. The owner said she loaned the car to her son that day so he could attend the funeral of a friend, but he never returned it or came back home that day, reports say. Her son called her the next day to say he ditched the car on Rainier Avenue South because it was low on gas.

Investigators used the woman's son's cell phone records to place him in the immediate area of the homicide at the time it occurred.

The probable cause statement indicates the man being investigated as the killer took a Greyhound bus bound for Minneapolis on Aug. 2, but since that time he had returned to Seattle. The man's mother arranged for him to meet with police and cops arrested him on Wednesday.

The man admitted to borrowing his mother's car the morning of July 31, but said he was intoxicated that day and "has no memory of the events surrounding the time of the murder."